Strategic Market Leadership

Last week I discussed the leadership quality of being willing – and the ability – to “look ahead” and ascertain “what is or could be occurring.” As I mentioned then, this is an essential quality for those who are in leadership. While it can indeed be difficult to accurately assess the current situation, size up the factors that are affecting where we are headed, foresee what is on the horizon, and determine what to do in light of the potential realities, there are things we can do to prepare.

Life has its seasons, doesn’t it? That said, personally, I am lately in a great season of life. Yet the challenges of times past and times yet to come are ever present in my soul.

And it is a fact of leadership-life that those who walk in leadership roles for any length of time will encounter adversity due to their role and responsibilities. And so it was with a family friend recently.

It is easy to enter the word “trending” into the search bar a my web browser and find out what the current social media conversation is all about at any given time. It is simple to “discern” the modern conversational trends.

The larger question for a person in leadership is not, “What is trending?” Rather the higher calling of those who lead is, “What trend am I setting?”

Last week I spoke to a situation where a business skipped past the process of defining the purpose of their enterprise in favor of hiring a charismatic quarterback to infuse new life into the enterprise.

I shared my analysis as follows: They traded purpose for personality (read here).

As is always the case with a short commentary, there is more to the story.